D 5580 Notes on TRF Future Vision PlanSeptember 2008

Rotary International

District 5580

September 2008

The Rotary Foundation

Future Vision Plan

Author/Complier:

: Robert Tully Chambers

District Governor

This was constructed as a basis for you to learn and think about major changes that are coming from The Rotary Foundation. There is a lot here and I would urge you to read it all. In particular, those of us who have friends in Zone and International levels and may have heard their views on these changes need to pay attention to what the plan NOW is. Note that the timing of those views, and what you read here, is important as the program is evolving. It has had major changes since the beginning of summer. Thus, the earlier e-mails from July and August refer, in some cases, to things that have changed. I have permission from all of those who have written material incorporated here to use it. The e-mail circulating this document also has attached a PowerPoint Presentation from TRF on the plan.

During the summer meetings a tentative decision was made by the Past District Governor Council (PDGCouncil) and the Executive and Finance Committee (ExecFinComm) to not apply to be a pilot district. With the changes that have occurred in what is obviously a work in progress it is not so apparent that we should take that stance. As it is a work in progress and the Trustees (including during personal discussions with Carolyn Jones and Carl- Wilhelm Steinhammer) assure us that development and change will occur during the three years of the pilot it may well be that we want a place at the table to influence the development. People at the club and district level MUST drive this, as the staff in Evanston is not cognizant of the issues on the ground working these projects. However, we NEED TO ACT NOWfor if we decide that we want to make application to be a pilot district we have a lot of work to do including getting 2/3 of the clubs to sign on. I am aware that the District representing southern Minnesota (D 5990 – DG Chris Holm) is currently getting clubs to sign the paperwork having made the decision to apply to be a pilot district. That decision will affect a project that the Brainerd club is doing with two of their clubs in Haiti.

Initially I wanted to edit the material but that would put my flavor on it not the views of the various writers. However, not every e-mail in the chain is included here. There has been a lot of controversy in District 5450 (Colorado). It is important to read the Monday, September 22, 2008 11:27 AM e-mail of Dan Clark PDG 5450 1998-99 where he points out that some of his earlier comments are no longer germane as the program has changed and that there is still a lot of controversy in District 5540. It is also important to read Carolyn Jones’ piece. As a minimum play the PowerPoint.

There are a couple of fundamentals. As Carl- Wilhelm Steinhammer said in Victoria, we are victims of our own success. A lot of this is an effort to reduce paperwork in Victoria so fears of micromanagement are far overstated. In fact, the Districts will have only minimal oversight in the “District Grants” which represents 50 % of our current District Designated Funds. The Global fund (the other 50 %) will go to large integrated projects that any club can work on a component of the project (“box off a shelf” project) without matching grants. Will it be different? Absolutely but simply because it is a different paradigm is not a reason to vote no.

The following has been copied from the related Rotary website the URL for which is:

The PowerPoint attached to this e-mail can also be downloaded from this site.

Future Vision Plan overview

In anticipation of The Rotary Foundation’s 100-year anniversary in 2017, the Trustees set out in 2005 to develop a 10-year vision with a three-year plan to move the Foundation toward its second century of service. This vision and plan reflect input from a wide variety of stakeholders through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and input sessions and include a comprehensive approach for setting goals and a roadmap for successful execution.

A vision was developed for the Foundation – Enabling Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace – which became the basis for the Foundation’s new mission statement:

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation’s new mission and vision, along with its new motto – Doing Good in the World – were approved by the Foundation Trustees and the RI Board and endorsed by the Council on Legislation.

The Future Vision Plan is designed to:

  • Simplify Foundation programs and processes consistent with the mission
  • Focus Rotarian service efforts where they will have the greatest impact by addressing priority world needs that are relevant to Rotarians
  • Offer program options to help achieve both global and local goals
  • Increase the sense of ownership at the district and club levels by transferring more decisions to the districts
  • Gain greater understanding of The Rotary Foundation’s work and enhance Rotary’s public image

With a goal of full implementation by 2013-14, the Future Vision Plan offers new models for

  • Grants structure
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Distributable funds

“Being everything to everyone has left the Foundation struggling to realize its mission. The new structure allows us to build on our strengths and realize more sustainable outcomes.”

– Robert S. Scott, 2007-08 Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair

The “Colorado Arguments” - be careful reading these as some of their objections have been listened to and changes made since this summer.

From:Dan Clark
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:22 PM
Subject: Future Vision Plan Comments
Hi Grant,
Thanks for your efforts and passing along the response. It seems pretty clear they are committed in this direction and really don't care that they are changing the organization from a bottoms up to a top down management approach. It seems very odd to me that they do not understand more clearly that the only reason they have gotten as much money as they have is because of the Rotarian involvement in the bottoms up approach. It really feels like they are oblivious to the fact that when they forcibly reduce the Rotarian involvement, which this approach will clearly do, the money will go with it. At least my money, my endowment and my support along with a lot of others....when they discover what is happening.
It would be my hope that our District will not even consider being a pilot district and thus use the money that has been given in the last three years in the manner that was intended by the givers. I see this as totally in keeping with the Four Way Test, while becoming a pilot district is a violation of the fiduciary trust that has been placed in the district leadership (and TRF) and the Four Way test. The three years we have left before the mandated change really starts to take effect can then be used to start a District Foundation in some form, either with other regional Districts and/or in conjunction with another existing foundation that would provide overhead and legal support at a reasonable cost so that the humanitarian efforts that have made 5450 and Rotary what it is today can be continued. Perhaps, after a few years the then TRF Trustees will see the tragic error they have made and come to their senses. From comments I'm hearing, we could lose our beloved Rotary entirely, at least as we have come to know and love it. It saddens me greatly that the Trustees don't see that most Rotarians are not interested in having their contributions used to support the overhead structure of other major "do good" organizations in the name of getting more recognition....which was never a part of most Rotarians motivations, at least true Rotarians. In any event, it is indeed a time to consider the alternative options very seriously as being a part of the direction they are headed is a formula for decreasing membership, giving and the benefit we have been to the world.
Thanks for all that you do and my best to Marlene!
Warm regards,
Dan

From: Dan Clark [mailto:
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 1:01 AM
Subject: Future Vision Plan Comments

Hi Grant,
You've known me a long time. One of the things that I always embrace is change...... as long as it has, upon examination, the outward appearances at least of being change for the good. With your support and few other PDGs, I eagerly implemented the New Leadership Plan during my DG year and believed then as has been proven since, that it was a great move forward.
I've been thinking how to respond to your question for several days and decided that it is best to do it now as I have an unavoidable business conflict during the time of the FVP presentation on 9/13 and won't be able to be there for the most of presentation and none of questioning period. Perhaps all of my concerns will be solvedand others in the District can persuade me that will be the case. All of the evidence that I've heard so far convinces me that this will be the worst thing that could possibly happen to the Rotary Foundation and that if not corrected quickly, will move it toward insignificance in record time. I believe it will also do tremendous damage to RI and is likely to turn it into an organization like Kiwanis or Lions, well meaning but not very impactful organizations. Truly, an opportunity lost for Rotary that saddens me greatly.In my opinion, the FVP is a well meaning but totally misguided betrayal of the fiduciary responsibilities by these Trustees resulting in a failure to perform the fiduciary responsibilities of the Foundation to all of its givers.
Thanks for your effort to get a better feel on what has happened and why. Carolyn's response is pretty much as I predicted was the case.
My response to your question if one could change it better as a pilot district....
That might be true (but one has to believe in fairy tales) but becoming a pilot district means that the District Leadership must philosophically join in this effort and in doing so be willing to pull back immediately from the level of humanitarian work that is going on in the world through 5450 clubs currently. There are simply too many knowledgeable informed Rotarians who agree that this FVP is a disaster for Rotary. We will stop our financial support if our Districts goes that direction. To me that means that the only sensible course of action is to find an alternative that will permit the Rotarians in 5450 (and many other districts) to continue improving the world as they want, not as TRF (and partners) decides is in keeping with their master plan. It is fine with me and I suspect lots of others for TRF to join with other partners to do special efforts like Polio Plus with over and above elective donations. It is the literal taking of monies that have been given with the intent that they would be available to do "bottoms up" projects, scholarships and GSE through DDF and the World Fund that creates the major problem for most of us, at least as I see it.
As I foresee how this might play out at the district level, in addition to all that TRF wants a district to do as a pilot district, it means spending the next three years and beyond trying to convince an existing group of actively involved and giving Rotarians that they should:
1) support a significant reduction of their money given over the last three years that would have been available in DDF over the next three years for them to direct to the existing humanitarian projects. This will ultimately result in 75% of future giving going to support TRF (and non-Rotary partners) defined programs, not locally defined and managed projects;
2) become less personally involved and still send in their money to TRF, who will share it with other non-Rotary not-for-profits to work some macro-magic that they currently don't do as well as Rotary does...... because of the level of local Rotarian personal involvement (that will be lost);
3) stop supporting Ambassadorial, Cultural, University Professor Scholarships and GSE because the 25% (RTC: this is incorrect 50 % of the current DDF will come back to the district with little oversight on how it is spent by TRF)of DDF that will come back to the District won't be enough to support any of those programs plus even a portion of the Matching Grants that are already actively working projects (at least in 5450);
4) stop looking for humanitarian projects when traveling to LDCs....unless they fall into a category that TRF may decide is OK...... and then may change its mind at least partially because of the influence of non-Rotary partners.
Even if being a pilot district could be successful in getting TRF to change the FVP (which I seriously doubt), it will be ten more years (beyond the pilot period) before Rotarians would forget the disaster enough to ever trust TRF again to be a place they should give to at today's levels. In my view, this feels like a decision that was driven by overworked, poorly trained and managed Evanston staff and a lot of well-meaning but truly misguided TRF Trustees who used the Rotarian surveys to support a naive foregone conclusion. It was apparently assumed that the dollar level of giving would continue to flow if there was some semblance of the old TRF maintained. It seems like that conclusion underestimated (or I'm over-estimating) that a giant share of Rotarian giving is tied directly to the personal involvement of Rotarians (and supporting those they know personally) in humanitarian work around the world. What makes that work and giving unique is that those (not TRF or WHO or?) giving Rotarians identified, developed strategies to implement and conducted projects to accomplish the improvements that resulted.
It is my strong sense that it would be a huge negative step backward to become a pilot district. If that is the will of the current 5450 Leadership, so be it. I'll take my TRF giving and endowment (other than Polio Plus) and redirect it to our Club Foundation and we'll do what is needed to keep our club's projects active and involved without TRF.
I would put my bet on the opinion that when the giving Rotarians figure out what is being done to reduce funding for their involvement in the humanitarian initiatives of their choosing, the giving levels by individual Rotarians that we've achieved will be ancient history and fast. Perhaps the TRF Trustees believe that those losses can be made up with donations from other organizations and governments. If that is the case, they had better be prepared for the "strings" that come with those dollars. Maybe that is what they want the TRF to be, but it is then no longer what we have all believed it should be.
As an alternative to continuing to support TRF while they implement the FVP in total violation of the Four Way Test and create what I believe will be a management disaster in Evanston, I would opt to start a District 5450 Foundation in some way (co-op with 5440 and 5470 if they feel the same) and join with an existing local foundation for administration. Then encourage 5450 Rotarians to divert their giving, other than Polio Plus, to that local foundation. This transition could be made over the three year period that funds will be coming normally from TRF, providing we are NOT a pilot district. At the end of that three years (the pilot district period) our 5450 Rotarians would have a new beginning in place that could transition and continue what had been done by TRF. There will be no need to spend any District Leadership time or energy finding excuses (other than good intentions) that won't meet the Four Way Test to continue to give to TRF, when none (in my opinion) exist. If the 5450 will is to be less involved and just send checks to some aloof entity in Evanston (that used to be TRF) to do with as they like, then become a pilot district and begin the compromise of everything we have all worked so hard to create.
Sorry that I don't see it differently, but this is so like when a large company takes over a quality smaller one and tells all the employees that everything will remain the same...... except for a few minor things....."that will be better for you" than before.....get real!In my opinion, the only thing that has even a remote chance of changing this disaster course is plunging donations to TRF during the pilot period. If that were to happen, they will know instantly they have a disaster and will be forced to change. I don't believe that anything less than that will make any difference. So the challenge for district leadership is to provide Rotarians who want to continue to support the work of "bottoms up" Rotary an alternative that will not turn them off to giving during this period. I believe that can be done very effectively with this alternative and is a much better choice than supporting a severely flawed FVP over the cliff. It also provides an interim that could go back to TRF if the course changes to one that is more acceptable.
My best to Marlene.
With deep respect and warm regards,
Dan